1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to fibre channel fabrics. More specifically, the present invention provides techniques and mechanisms for forwarding packets received at fibre channel switches.
2. Description of Related Art
When a fibre channel packet is received at a fibre channel switch, the fibre channel switch extracts destination information from the packet to determine how to forward the packet. In many instances, the destination information is a Fibre Channel Destination Index (FC D_ID) that is extracted. The switch uses the destination information to access a forwarding information base.
In some examples, the forwarding information base indicates possible paths to the destination. The path can be associated with a connection to a central processing unit (CPU), another fibre channel switch, a host, or a local disk array. Load balancing, traffic shaping, and policy based forwarding can also be applied to further select one of multiple paths.
However, conventional mechanisms for determining the appropriate forwarding paths are either expensive, inefficient, and/or inflexible. Expensive hardware components are used and in many instances, lookups to multiple tables are required for a single forwarding determination.
Consequently, it is desirable to provide techniques for improving packet forwarding at a fibre channel switch to allow more effective and efficient transmission of fibre channel packets.